It was one of the greatest factions to ever exist in the world of professional wrestling but, like all great empires before it, the fall was equal to an extinction level event. And much like a true ELE, the shattering of The Shield birthed something new and unexpected in all directions — Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose all branching off to varying paths.
Ambrose has finally regained stride in AEW as Dean Ambrose, and there’s no explanation required regarding the Hall of Fame-level success enjoyed by both Rollins and Reigns since that harrowing moment when the former took a steel chair and swung it into the back of the latter roughly a decade ago.
It was the hit and betrayal heard ‘round the world, and Rollins regrets nothing, nor should he — all things considered — as he readily detailed on a recent feature with Sportscenter ahead of his special guest referee booking at Summerslam 2024.
“Yeah, I have. I’ve been asked about it a lot. Obviously, I think that’s the one thing that if you’re a fan of Seth Rollins or The Shield or Jon Moxley, Roman Reigns —I think that’s the one thing that kind of sits with you over the course of the last 10 years, essentially.
“I get asked about it all the time, and I’ve thought about it: ‘Would you go back? Would you change it? Would you do something different?’ My answer is unequivocally no, I wouldn’t because where we’re at now, the business as a whole is healthier than it’s ever been.
“That moment in time is what shifted everything. That’s what put us all on our separate paths. Our goal in the beginning was to run the show, to run the business, to change it, to make it better. Here we are a decade later, and I dare say it was accomplished with the swing of that steel chair.”
Rollins isn’t incorrect at all.
That storyline was so impactful that, a decade later, it found its way into the Showcase of the Immortals in the main event between Reigns, The Rock, The Bloodline and Cody Rhodes at Wrestlemania 40, when Rollins appeared out of nowhere donned in The Shield attire and with a chair in hand to deliver another catastrophic blow to Reigns.
Instead, it was Reigns getting revenge by taking the chair to the back of Rollins, one of the most cathartic moments in the history of WWE, but also one that cost him the WWE Universal Championship in the process.
Reigns chose revenge over his own gold, the 10-year feud finally spilling over into yet another chapter that, again, has changed the course of the WWE in ushering it into a new age with Rhodes as the face of the company and not Reigns.
And to think, in some way, it’s still not over between Reigns and Rollins, and may never be.
